Fixed selective stethoscope.



F. E. MILLER.

FIXED SELECTIVE STETHOSCOP E.

APPLICATION man FEB. I4. 1918.

1,282,908. Patented Oct. 29, 1918 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I N VEN TOR. Fzwzzlz E. M1 Z101" F. E. MILLER.

FIXED SELECTIVE STETHOSCOPE.

APPLICATION FLLED FEB. 14. I918.

1,282,908. Patented 0@t.29,191s

INVENTOR.

E M A TORNEY.

a To altwhomct may concern:

1 scopes, set forth. in the following specifica FRANK E. mLLEn or NEW j'ronx, ii. Y.

Be'it known that I, FRANK a" citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, county and State of New York, have'invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fixed Se ective- Stethoti on. 1 1

This inve'ntionrelates togthe makmgof soundings on the human body. The ordinary method of making soundings throughthe "medium of a portable stethoscope is many tim es extremely trying both to the physician and to the patient, particularly in the-case of a-patient confined to his bed and in a critical condition, although soundings. may be necessary, thBf making of the same" may .be fraught with actual danger to the a patient, due to exposure and'theattendant excitement.

The object t in imation a t6 provide I for. the making of soundings upon the body of 'a patientunder conditions of no discomforttothe patient andof convenience to the physician. Although soundings are most. frequently employed in connection with the. thorax, my invention is by no means limited" to such a locality, although in such use it may have the most advantage. In further ing my invention I contemplate the location of a plurality ofele'ctrical transmitters positively positioned relatively to the" desired parts of the human'anatomy'to be explored n through the medium of a garment to which they are'physically attached and which is to be worn bythe patient. a

I further ontemplate suitablecircuits';

receiving-a apparatus and selectiveco'ntrol means whereby the receiving apparatus may be'actuated by anysetjof one or more of the speciallylo'cated transmitters. The above and further objects of my in?" I vention will better be understood by refer-- .ence to the illustrative embodiment set forth in the following specificatiom'in cone nection with. the I accompanying drawings, which-form afpart hereof, in which like. characters designate corresponding partsin l the several figures. In the drawings Figure 1 is a top plan .vieW of a recumbent pati'ent" fitted with my'invention; Fig; 2 is a bottom plan view of the/ structure ofFighl; Fig. 3 1s a crosssectl'on, lookingin the direction of the arrows, through line IIIIII of Fig. 1 l and drawn to ansenlargedscale; and Fig. 4

'SELECTIVE STETHOSG OIPE.

Specificationof Letters Patents 1 Patented Qdt.'2,-1918.

" Ap plication flledlfebruary14,1918.. Seria1 No.217,045

is a diagram ofillustrative circuit connec- ,tions. I

I. employ preferably -sp ecial electrical transmitters of the type employed in the United States Army. aviation helmets, ex-.

samples of which are indicated by A with various exponents in the drawings. Alvtransmitter highlysuitable for my purpose,

my invention does not reside-in the type or constructlon of transmitter; I am aware though I have foundthis particular type of that any common typerofelectrical transmitter is more or less suitable for my punpose, but it ispreferredthat the type responsive to sound transmitted through chest" vibration ratherlthan-air vibration be used,

A garment for enveloping the part of the body to be sounded is formed in the desired size and configuration, This garment may" be in the form of a harness of straps such as aisuspender waist, but is preferably a garment such as the shirt B, formed of. two

stitched and pro-vided with buttons 3, as is usual .'n th soundings, as through the medium of the fer to arrange the transmitters in sets of two each, one directly in front'and one directly in the rear of the locality to be sound- ;ed. For example, thetransmitters A} and A are shown positioned respectively in the rear and the front'of the lowerlobe of the 1 right'lung, while transmitters 'A -and A. are shown respectively directly at the rear formation of such garments .In the practice of my invention for body layers ofIteXtile ffabrio 11' and 2, suitably structure illustrated injthe drawings, I we and at the front of the lower lobe of the left lung, In a similar manner, the transmitter A is positioned directly over the .stomach.

opposite to the transmitter A, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, in the rear of;the

stomach. In a similar manner, other sets of transmitters such as A"f- P 5 and A +A fare shownwith the j individual transmitters off each set. respec tively at *the front and the rear'of' a body.

locality which it may be desired to have sounded, for. example; such localities as the remaining of the five lob'esof the lungs and. I

'the heart. v

A two-wire electrical conductilngcord C, suitably electrically connected w the ter-.

init als of each transmitter iscarriedthrough" the. garment B. between its 'fabric la ers,

here. it v is preferably stayed in; .POSltiOII through a suitable stitching through a trunk cable D, from which the necessary electrical branches are made, as will appear more in detail in the diagram presently to be described. Each transmitteris likewise. stayed by the patient under observation.

A suitable source of electric energy, such as the battery E, is-provided and located preferably at the distance desired away from the patient, usually in thelocality of-the recelving station at which is located the receiver F and the usual form of telephone transformer G and a selective control switch H. In making up the trunk cable D, one common battery wire 5 throughout the length of the cable is sufficient, the same being provided with appropriate branches 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, one for each of the sets of transmitters, to one terminal of each of which these branches are connected. The opposite branches of each set of transmitters has a selector wire such as the wires 13, 14,

15, 16, 17. 18 and. 19 respectively, which go to complete the cable C and extend to corresponding contacts h M, h, if, h h h of the switch H, which contacts h? and so forth, are characteristically numbered or lettered to correspond in their indication with the location of the transmitters which 3 they control. From the switch arm 20 a wire 21 leads to the transformer G, which is also connected through the wire 22 with the battery Transformer Gr is c-onnected with the receiver F through the wires 23 and 21, preferably as is customary in the form of a flexible cord. It is contemplated that. thereceiverF may be in any of the well-.

known .forms of receivers, eitherear phones or a stat onary loud-speaking phone.

In using my invention the patient is clad with a garment designed especially to accord with the particular disease or trouble under treatment or observation. This is accomplished without professional technique or any unusual procedure which might excite a patient. The necessary circuit connections are made and the observer, who may be located ina'distant room, can, at will, continuously if necessary, without the knowledge of the patient, make soundings of any local- I that this invention is not necessarily limited to the observation of diseased patients and that it has other usefulness. as for example, the testing of the resonating capacity of singers. For example, a patient titted with a suitable embodiment of the apparatus can be instructed to reproduce, the sounds noh, nah and nee, which are calculated to produce a maximum vib 'ation respectively in the upper, middle and lower lobes of. the lungs. A trained operator may thus readily gage and determine a students progress or lack of progress in the control of this vocal resonance. j

What I claim is i 1. A stethoscope comprising a body garment; a plurality of transmitters each fixed to said garment in a predetermined locality relativelyto a body-organ; a source of electric energy; a receiver; and means for selectively connecting said source and receiver with selected sets of one or more of said transmitters.

- 2. In combination a body garment; a pair of-transmitters anchored to said garment at localities such as that when the garment is appliedto-a human body said transmitters will occupy opposed front and rear positions; and electric connections connecting said transmitters in parallel.

3. In combination a body garment; a plurality of transmitters anchored at various localities to said body garment; "electric con nections for each of said transmitters; and a flexible cable electrically connectedwith said connections and extending away from said garment.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, this 25th day of January, 1918.

FRANK E. MILLER. 

